Barnardo’s has launched free LGBTQ resources to help teachers better educate children about same sex relationships and gender and sexual identities.

The free LGBTQ resources aimed at primary and secondary schools have been launched by the UK’s largest children’s charity to sit alongside their existing Real Love Rocks resources, which teach children and young people about healthy relationships and awareness of child sexual exploitation.

Teachers attending Barnardo’s Real Love Rocks training sessions had called for support as they felt unsure what they were allowed to teach about lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans relationships. Many teachers said they would not feel confident in their response if a child raised a question about gender or sexual identity in the classroom and wanted more LGBTQ inclusive curriculum content for SRE.

The new animations and classroom activities have been developed to help address these gaps and are tailored to be age appropriate, educating children at primary school level about the different make up of families in society, with the aim of dispelling stereotypes about gender and sexual identity.

The secondary resources focus on encouraging teenagers to understand their feelings and create awareness of different sexual and gender identities, as well as explore the additional vulnerabilities LGBTQ young people may face from sexual exploitation.

Real Love Rocks Project Worker Paula Bowman says: “We are pleased to be launching our new free resources that will help teachers and professionals to be more inclusive of LGBTQ identities within lessons.

“Often same sex relationships and trans people are completely invisible in SRE and healthy relationships education resources. The failure to discuss and create awareness of different families, gender and sexual identities can have a negative impact on children and young people, increasing the feelings of isolation, lack of acceptance and bullying.

“We know that these issues may encourage young people to seek support via adult spaces, which can put them at risk of CSE. Teachers often feel confused about what they can and can’t teach or say, especially when they have to deal with issues like homophobic bullying, so we hope these new interactive toolkits can help to create more awareness and support teachers to tackle these issues in an age appropriate way.”

The launch of the free resources is also part of Barnardo’s activity to mark LGBT History month, which runs throughout February.

As well as offering a structured series of teacher resources, animations and classroom activities, Real Love Rocks professionals from Barnardo’s provide training to teachers and other professionals to deliver the programme to children in late primary and secondary schools.